His grandfather and father were organ-builders, and his father was also a good perforrner who gave his son his first lessons. At eleven he became organist at the Lycee in Lyons, and various other organ posts followed until 1870, when he took a one-year appointment at St Sulpice in Paris - which eventually was to last for sixty-four years. In 1890 he became professor of organ and composition at the Paris Conservatory, and he was elected to the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1910.

possibly 1870 (26)

Symphony No 1

1876 (32)

Piano Concerto

1880 (36)

La Korrigane, ballet

1882 (38)

Violin Concerto

1885 (41)

Conte d'avril, incidental music

Les Jacobites, incidental music

1886 (42)

Maitres Ambros, Lyric drama

Symphony No 2

1887 (43)

La Nuit de Walpurgis, symphonic poem with chorus

1889 (45)

Fantasie, for piano

1890 (46)

Jeanne d'Arc, ballet-pantomime

1895 (51)

Symphony No 2

1898 (54)

Ouverture Espagnole

1900 (56)

Chorale and Variations for harp

1905 (61)

Les pecheurs de Saint-Jean, Lyric drama

1906 (62)

Piano Concerto

1908 (64)

Sinfonia Sacra, for organ and orchestra

1911 (67)

Symphonie Antique, for organ, chorus and orchestra

1924 (80)

Nerto, Lyric drama

Widor also composed a piano trio, a quartet and two quintets, other instrumental and chamber works, sacred and secular vocal works, ten organ symphonies, and eight sonatas and other pieces for organ.